Mr. Rubashkin is a flight risk. We are sorry that we cannot be of further assistance in responding to your concerns."

Rubashkin, the former manager of the Agriprocessors kosher meat plant in Postville, Iowa, was convicted of 86 counts of financial fraud last November and ordered held pending sentencing.

In January, a coalition of rabbis wrote to the U.S. attorney general asking for reconsideration of the case, in which they claim that prosecutors were unnecessarily harsh in their treatment of Rubashkin. The rabbis have said that Rubashkin's incarceration interferes with his religious practice and that securing his release is a humanitarian issue.

Last month, the Des Moines Register reported that Rubashkin had been moved to a private jail cell after a disagreement with a fellow inmate over the volume of a television set became physical. ... JTA